Sweetheart
by burgersss
Summary: Dereks out of town for a few days and he asks Cora to stay at Allison's house while he's gone. Allison is willing to make the effort, so Cora reluctantly agrees to stay with her. The first night there a certain 'strawberry blonde' is staying at Allison's too.
1. Chapter 1

"I'll be fine on my own, seriously," Cora protested to her older brother, he was leaving town for a few days on 'business' and after everything that had happened recently, really didn't want his little sister staying on her own.

"Right, sure, tell me your plan for when a few Alphas come knocking, how're you going to handle them on your own?" Derek said, not really wanting an answer as he stuffed a few days' worth of clothes into a duffel bag.

"I'll manage, _somehow_," Cora snapped back at him, slumping down into an armchair.

"You won't, end of. I called Scott; he said Allison would be happy to house you for a night or two."

"Ah, great, always nice when a werewolf hunting family is happy to help," Cora said sarcastically.

Derek raised his eyebrows at her and she huffed out a sigh in defeat, looks like she'd have to stay at Allison's house for a few days.

"Who are you going with anyway?" She asked, arms crossed over her chest.

"Scott and Isaac are coming with me; no doubt Stiles will tag along as well."

"Ooh, cute, you guys can go on double dates together and watch the sunset!" Cora teased.

Derek glared at her, red flashing in his eyes before he zipped up his duffel bag and headed out of the apartment, she followed behind snickering to herself.

Cora walked up the steps to Allison's front door and knocked a few times before stuffing her hands back in her leather jacket pockets. Allison opened the front door and smiled sweetly at her, she was already in what seemed to be pyjamas (an oversized white t-shirt and dark blue sweatpants) as she stepped aside to allow Cora to into her home. She wasn't the Hale family's number one fan, she was far from it, but she decided that she would at least try with Cora; everyone deserves a chance.

"Hi! Come in, here, let me take your bag, I'll show you the spare room," Allison said, taking Cora's bag from her kindly.

Cora wearily let go of it, eyeing Allison suspiciously, she couldn't quite understand why she was being so kind. The thought didn't cross her mind that Allison was just trying to be friendly.

She led her through to the spare room and put her bag down at the end of the bed, then turned around and smiled at her again, "I'll give you a minute to get changed, you can come watch a movie with us after if you'd like."

She then turned around and left, closing the door behind her.

_ Wait…Us? _Cora thought to herself, but shrugged it off quickly and started getting changed. She slipped on grey sweatpants and a black polo shirt, kicked off her shoes and socks, then tied her hair back in a high ponytail. The mumble of a TV could be heard from another room which she made her way towards, Allison was sitting with her legs crossed on the living room carpet with a selection of DVDs in front of her. Cora walked cautiously over to the couch, her bare feet padding along so quietly on the carpet that Allison didn't realise she was there until she sat down.

"Oh, hey, you wanna help pick out a movie?" She asked, gesturing towards the DVDs.

Before Cora could reply, a short girl strutted into the room, long red hair falling in perfect curls past her shoulders. She was in pyjamas too, although the top and bottom halves matched and looked designer, if that was even possible for pyjamas. Her face was… well, perfect, in a way; like she might as well of been wearing makeup, but at a closer look she wasn't.

"Allison, I can't find-…" she stopped in her tracks when she saw Cora sitting stiffly on the edge of the couch, "what is she doing here?"

Allison let out a sigh and rolled her eyes as she got up off the floor, "Cora needs a place to stay for a few days, so I'm letting her stay in the spare room."

Lydia looked the brunette girl up and down before tossing her hair over her shoulder, "whatever."

Allison sat in the middle of the two, Lydia picked out some predictable chick flick movie and Cora had to shut her eyes for a moment to gather the strength to sit through at least half this movie. About three quarters of the way through was the biggest moment in the movie, where the guy confesses that he had loved the girl all along as they stood in the rain; Lydia staring wide eyed at the scene like it was the biggest plot twist to ever occur.

Cora let out a bored sigh and leant her head on her hand. How had she made it through this much of the movie?

"I'm sorry, have you got a problem with the movie?" Lydia snapped, smiling although she didn't mean it kindly.

"Of course not, only that it's really bad- seriously, what the fuck is this?" Cora asked, pointing a finger towards the screen as it cut scene to a wedding day.

"It's a good movie, you don't like it you know where the door is, sweetheart," Lydia snapped, crossing her arms over her chest and turning back to the screen with a scowl on her face.

Allison sat in the middle of their argument awkwardly until she'd had enough and said the first valid excuse to leave that entered her mind, "Hey! Who wants popcorn?"

She leapt off the couch and fast-walked to the kitchen, leaving an empty gap between the two girls, they threw each other glances every now and then whilst an awkward silence settled in.

"Look, just because Allison is okay with you, doesn't mean I have to be as well," Lydia whispered so Allison didn't hear.

"Why would that bother me?" Cora asked, frowning.

Lydia let out an annoyed sigh and started looking through the other DVDs.

"God you're a bitch," she muttered under her breath, forgetting that Cora could hear probably everything that was going on in the next house as well as this one.

They both turned around when the sound of the front door clicked open, and Allison was putting on her coat, rambling about something to do with 'we're out of popcorn'. A silence fell over the two girls once again. Lydia could feel Cora's eyes on her back as she put in the next movie, which for some reason made her feel extremely nervous. She got back up and strode back to the sofa, not looking at her once. They were both thankful for the 'movie night' as it didn't require any conversation.

About a quarter of the way into the movie, Lydia started shaking slightly; she rubbed at her arms and pulled her legs up closer to her chest.

"You alright?" Cora asked.

Lydia nodded, still not looking back at her, "fine."

"… Are you cold?" Cora tried again.

Lydia nodded again.

Cora chewed at her lip and looked at the blanket that was covering her legs; couldn't hurt to try and be nice, she'd probably end up being in a life or death situation at some point with this girl knowing everything that happens in Beacon Hills, so might as well start trying now.

She stood up from the sofa and straightened out the blanket before placing it over Lydia, who looked startled as Cora went and sat back down, this time next to her instead of at the other end of the sofa. Cora brought her legs up, crossed them and placed her hands in her lap, expression blank. Lydia swallowed and stared at Cora, who could hear her heart pumping faster. After a few moments, Lydia turned back to the screen but lifted up one end of the blanket and pulled it over so it was covering both of them.

Cora was grateful that Lydia couldn't hear her own heartbeat, and that it was dark in the room apart from the luminous glow of the TV so she couldn't see the red that crept into her cheeks.

She pulled the blanket up closer around her and carried on watching the movie, although she couldn't really pay attention. Cora was focusing solely on the light touch of Lydia's shoulder and her knee that had started resting on top of hers. Her heartbeat had slowed down now, she was relaxed.

Relaxed.

Around Cora.

Maybe staying at Allison's house for a few days wasn't such a bad idea after all; she mentally told herself to thank Derek when he got back.


	2. Chapter 2

Somewhere along twenty minutes into the movie the two girls had dozed off. Allison had been wandering around the late night store for a while and after finding a bottle of something that looked extremely intoxicating, she pulled out her fake ID and paid for it. She tried not to look as guilty as she felt whilst paying, but she was so nervous handing the money over. Lydia had made her the ID a while back but she thought she'd never use it, but she wanted to get something to lighten the mood back at her place.

Once Allison arrived back home, she could hear the movie on the TV still playing. She made her way into the room where the two girls were soundly sleeping on the sofa. Lydia's head had fell and was now resting on Cora's chest, the sound of Allison's giggles and her putting down the bottle of drink on the coffee table woke the werewolf girl up. She frowned as she noticed Lydia who was resting on one side of her and let out a loud huff through her nose.

"Get. Her. Off of me," Cora growled, her body stiffening, although she still didn't really want to wake up the girl.

Allison laughed and jumped onto the single chair next to the sofa, "oh I don't know, Cora, I think you two look pretty cute."

Cora glared at her, before sighing in relief as Lydia started to stir. As she noticed the position she had gotten into with Cora she sprung apart from her and composed herself like nothing had happened, fixing her hair and smiling at Allison.

"What did you get?" Lydia asked, placing her hands in her lap.

Allison raised the bottle and shook it with a cute, accomplished grin on her face.

Cora laughed, "now you're talkin'."

*************************************

The three girls had put all the blankets and pillows on the floor so they had a nice comfortable set up. Every now and then they passed the bottle to each other, by the early hours of the morning it only had a quarter of the drink left.

They were getting into the conversation of past relationships, which Cora was noticeably absent from.

"You're quiet, bad past relationships?" Allison noted.

"Mm," Cora said, avoiding the question as she took another sip.

Lydia raised her eyebrows, not wanting to let it go so easily, "best relationship you've ever had?"

Cora shrugged.

"Come on, you can tell us," Allison said with her usual smile.

"..." Cora took another sip, more like a gulp this time, as she looked around the room pretending that her surroundings were suddenly a lot more interesting.

"I've never... I mean..." She trailed off, chewing her bottom lip.

"Yeees?" Lydia pried, resting her head on her hand.

"I've never even kissed anyone," Cora said in a quiet voice.

Allison and Lydia raised their eyebrows in unison in astonishment.

"Nooo!" Allison said in disbelief, grinning.

"You're kidding," Lydia said, tilting her head to the side.

Cora stayed quiet and scratched the back of her neck nervously.

Allison suddenly smacked her hand over her mouth.

"Guys, I don't feel so good," she mumbled into her palm as she scrambled to her feet and dashed for the stairs up to the bathroom, closing the door behind herself.

"Someone can't handle their drink," Cora commented quietly, still avoiding eye contact.

"You've seriously never kissed anyone?" Lydia asked, ignoring whatever was happening with Allison upstairs.

Cora nodded.

Lydia let out a small sigh as she chucked her blankets aside that were covering her legs and crawled towards Cora until their faces were inches apart.

Her eyes flickered down to Lydia's rosy lips, all full and perfect, so close to her own. It made her feel nervous and scared and excited all at once.

_What am I doing? _Lydia thought to herself.

She leaned forward and closed the space between them. The kiss was slow, short, but it felt right.

Lydia pulled away and they stared at each other for a moment, trying to process what just happened. Cora's face wasn't giving away sign of how she felt, apart from her face being a little flushed.

"Now you have," She teased.

She looked up at the girl as she moved in closer, putting her legs either side of Cora and sat herself down in her lap, placing her hands on the back of her neck.

Lydia pushed her lips to Cora's again; it was clumsy at first, unsure, but she quickly picked it up and they both started getting lost in each other. They both tasted of alcohol but neither of them cared.

Cora wrapped her arms around Lydia's middle and held her tightly against herself, the kiss turned more and more desperate as Lydia pushed Cora down onto her back, running her hands down her sides. Their heads were spinning and everything else in the room was non-existent.

The sound of slow, lazy footsteps interrupted them as Allison made her way out of the bathroom. The two girls broke apart; Lydia quickly arranging herself where she was before Allison left and Cora slowly lifting herself up from the floor, her head still spinning.

"Awh, hunny, are you alright?" Lydia said, slightly out of breath but still as composed as she could be.

Allison pouted as she flopped back down on the floor, clutching her stomach.

The next day was going to be interesting.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: sorry this update took so long, i'm such a slow writer/3 dedicating this chapter to my friend dana who's waited 5eva for this, hope you like it! c: (from your buddy, the Abominable Snowman;) )**

The morning after, Cora woke up to a sleeping Allison, her hair covering most of her face. She sat up slowly; partly from not wanting to wake her and partly from her head spinning so fast she was worried if she sat up too quickly she might puke. As her vision adjusted, she noticed the room was one strawberry blonde short. She frowned as she stood up and made her way to the kitchen to get a glass of water, then suddenly stopped in her tracks as memories of the previous night came flooding back.

"Oh my god," she breathed, shutting her eyes tightly.

Cora let out a groan and carried on getting some water, she couldn't tell if she regretted it or not. It didn't feel like she should regret it… but then again, what does she know?

She stood there sipping slowly at her water, thinking over the moment again and again. It was obvious the Lydia had left long before she could wake up, so maybe she regretted it? This was all too confusing for Cora, maybe she was worrying too much, she didn't know.

A week went by and all she could think about was the few minutes alone they had together. Derek had called to say he was on his way home now; maybe she could talk to him? Or was that a terrible idea?

Cora decided that once school had finished, she'd go down and wait for Lydia outside, then maybe she'd have a chance to talk to her. She hadn't really even decided what she was going to say.

She leaned up against a wall, hands in the pockets of her jacket as she heard the bell ring. A rush of students flew out of the double doors and she waited until she spotted Lydia. The girl was talking and laughing to Allison until she spotted Cora waiting by the side. She told Allison she'd catch up with her later (they were going shopping), then she made her way over to Cora.

"What do you want?" Lydia asked bluntly, it didn't sound mean though, more of a general question.

"I haven't seen you since the first night at Allison's house, you left before I woke up."

Lydia swallowed, her heart beat picked up, "and?"

Cora frowned, "and, why did you leave?"

"I had places to be," Lydia said defensively.

"I can tell when you're lying, you should probably know that."

Lydia just stared at her, trying to hold her glare, but her heart was racing and for once she was lost for words.

Cora chewed at her lip and turned her eyes towards the ground, "are you hungry?"

"…What?"

"Are, you, hungry?" She repeated clearly, as if Lydia had actually not heard what she had said.

"Yeah, sure."

Cora nodded her head toward the sleek, black car parked near them; she'd 'borrowed' it from Derek as she didn't have one of her own.

They drove across town to a small diner and got take out, then took a walk across the bridge that lead to the opening of a forest. Once they found a clearing, Cora sat down on the dirt floor and placed her food in front of her.

Lydia raised an eyebrow, "I am not sitting down on that floor, in this dress."

Cora rolled her eyes, but took off her jacket and placed it on the floor for her to sit on.

"Thank you."

Lydia picked at her limp salad as Cora ate her fries; it was Lydia to break the silence, of course.

"Is your whole wardrobe filled with grey and black?"

Cora looked down at herself, then thought back to the few clothes she did own, "yeah, pretty much."

"You should change that, a little colour never killed anybody," Lydia stated, smiling, as she popped a piece of tomato into her mouth.

Cora frowned; she did that a lot, "when would there ever be a reason for me to buy new clothes."

"Oh, sweetheart, there's always a reason to buy new clothes."

She raised her eyebrows, "for you, maybe."

Lydia shoved her shoulder playfully.

"What would you suggest then?" Cora asked, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

She put a finger to the side of her chin in thought as she looked upwards, "Hmm, I'm sure I can find you something of mine."

The two finished their food quickly and Lydia gave directions back to her house. As Cora stood at the door she looked anxious.

Lydia sighed impatiently and grabbed her wrist, pulling her in behind her and shutting the door, "no one's home."

They went upstairs and walked through to Lydia's room; it had a strong smell of perfumes. Everything was organized and everything looked designer. As they stood in front of her wardrobe Lydia pulled out a few dresses and jackets.

"Your wardrobe is like five people's wardrobes put together," Cora told her, looking wearily at the few dresses laid out on the floor.

"What are you talking about? I need all of this," she said matter-of-factly, "now put this on."

Cora took the dress that she held out; it had a white top half that had lace over it and was connected to a black skater skirt.

"I thought you said I needed more colour?"

"White is a step up from grey and black," Lydia pointed out.

Cora sighed as she took off her leather jacket and tugged the grey tank top over her head. Lydia found herself staring at her; every move or twist she made just exaggerated her toned body and flawless skin. As soon as Cora started pulling on the dress, oblivious to the eyes that were roaming every inch of her, Lydia looked away and busied herself with picking up hair things from her table. On the table was three mirrors all connected, the biggest one in the middle, she could see Cora straightening out the dress behind her.

"Right," Lydia said, turning on her heel to face her then gesturing to the stool she stood by, "sit."

Cora did as she was told and stared up at Lydia quizzically in the mirror as she started to part her hair down the right hand side. She then gathered all her hair and brought it round to the left, started to part that into different sections and then plait it into a fish tail braid. After fastening it at the end with a hair band, she grabbed a tinted red lip balm and leant down so she was closer to Cora's face.

"Smile," Lydia said as she held up the lip balm.

Cora smiled just enough for Lydia to apply it to her lips; having her this close made her more nervous now she wasn't drunk.

"Aaand, done!"

Cora looked at herself in the mirror, and then her eyes flickered back to Lydia who was looking extremely proud of her handy work, which made her laugh.

"What?"

"Nothing, I like it. Still don't compare to you, though."

Lydia felt her face heat up as a blush crept onto her cheeks.

She cleared her throat, "yeah, well, it's hard to."

Cora laughed again, her eyes crinkling at the corners. No one apart from family has made her this happy before. Sure, the company was extremely different to anything else she'd ever had, but she liked it. It made her feel grounded, normal, like she wasn't a supernatural being that turned into a lunatic every full moon.

"You look _gorgeous_; all the guys will be dying to get a piece of you now," Lydia told her, grinning, but the enthusiasm was lacking from her eyes.

"You know that's not what I want."

Lydia's expression instantly changed. Cora couldn't tell what it was; was it guilt? … Relief?

Cora's eyes met hers and they just looked at each other for a moment, like they were having a silent conversation.

Lydia took a step forward and sighed, tossing her hair over one shoulder, "you know, I don't really think this dress is the one for you."

She pulled at the hem of Cora's dress, making her take a step forward as well.

Cora slowly grinned and tilted her head, "I thought you said I looked gorgeous?"

"Can't a girl change her mind?"

"I'm starting to think you only put me in this so you could take it off."

Lydia gasped, wrapping her arms around Cora's neck, "wow, nothing gets past those werewolf senses do they, Sweetheart?"


End file.
